Canada says it won't participate in Games in summer 2020

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FILE PHOTO - The giant Olympic rings are seen in the dusk at the waterfront area at Odaiba Marine Park in Tokyo, Japan, March 22, 2020. REUTERS/Issei Kato

(Reuters) - The Canadian Olympic Committee (COC) and Paralympic Committee (CPC) said on Sunday that Team Canada will not participate in the Olympic and Paralympic Games in the summer of 2020 due to concerns about the outbreak of the coronavirus.

Opposition to holding the Games in July has risen sharply in the past 48 hours, with several major stakeholders such as U.S. Track and Field and UK Athletics, along with several national Olympic committees, calling for a delay because of the pandemic.

More than 13,000 people have died globally since the coronavirus outbreak began.

“The COC and CPC urgently call on the International Olympic Committee (IOC), and the International Paralympic Committee (IPC) and the World Health Organization (WHO) to postpone the Games for one year and we offer them our full support in helping navigate all the complexities that rescheduling the Games will bring,” the committees said in a statement.

“While we recognize the inherent complexities around a postponement, nothing is more important than the health and safety of our athletes and the world community,” it added.

The IOC said on Sunday it would hold discussions that would include an option of putting back the July 24 start date or even moving the Games by a year or more due to the global coronavirus outbreak, but said cancelling the Games would not solve problems or help anybody.

Canada’s withdrawal will add to growing pressure on the IOC to alter the schedule after criticism from a slew of current and former athletes with health concerns.

The Olympics have never been postponed or canceled during peacetime but the IOC’s decision to even consider postponement was met with relief from several major stakeholders, including World Athletics, the International Paralympic Committee (IPC) and major national Olympic committees.

Reporting by David Dolan; Writing by Ian Ransom and Chang-Ran Kim; Editing by Muralikumar Anantharaman/Peter Rutherford